Is more evidence needed to prove that the Government favours the insurer?
You would think an inquiry into insurance fraud should involve the claimant profession. Not according to the Government, who did not invite one to attend one recently. They did invite representatives from the insurance industry.
The Government maintain their commitment to tackling insurance fraud and have done since their election. To continue this they put together a taskforce to look at the level of insurance fraud.
The Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, formed the taskforce which excluded the claimant lobby. This has of course left representatives from the claimant profession wondering why?
Speaking about the snub, a spokesman for MASS claimed that there was no explanation. After the findings came out last week, they will now prepare a detailed response.
Scott Rees and Co Partner, David Byrne, expressed his bewilderment over the snub. He questioned whether well devised decisions can were possible without the legal industry’s input?
He said: “The Government has always seemed to have a close bond with the insurers. Over time this has raise suspicions that they were doing deals together. This most recent snub to the claimant profession suggests such suspicions are well placed.”
“Why no claimant representative was invited to the inquiry is beyond comprehension. Insurance fraud affects our profession daily making our input important.”
“It is obvious that the reasoning behind the presence of insurance fraud will now be one sided. This contradicts the excellent work the claimant and insurance sector have achieved working together.”
“The task force have a particular remit. That is to determine how much insurers, lawyers and CMC’s encourage insurance fraud. Despite this only the Government and the insurers had any input. How can their findings be completely accurate?”
“It is not difficult to understand the claimant profession’s worries over future reforms. Fraud is a matter of importance and should not be handled in such a hush-hush style.”
The taskforce was chaired by the former law commissioner, David Hertzell. He is also, by coincidence, an insurance specialist. Members of the treasure and the MoJ attended also attended as standard.
Representatives of the insurance industry, Citizens Advice and the Financial Services Consumer also attended. The final person on at the inquiry was the Legal Ombudsman.